Of Berries and Shinigami
by Vertigo-in-Reverse
Summary: Twins Ichigo & Sakura Kurosaki deal with their new powers and the truth behind them. But it's alright they have their friends- old and new- to help them out as well as the strange father/son duo of Urahara Naruto & Kisuke by their sides.
1. Chapter 1

**ベリーと死神の** **1**

******Of Berries and Shinigami 1**

* * *

A petite pink haired girl walked through the maze like streets of Karakura town. Back pack, 2 duffel bags and a phany pack strapped onto her body, she pulled along a big roll along suitcase with 2 smaller bags attached at the sides and one attached to the extended handle. She gleefully walked as she walked past the small park near her home and began walking faster with a skip in her step. Her pink hair bobbing up and down till she reached the doorstep to her two story house with clinic attached. She looked at her watch 10:45 no one would be home, especially on a school day. Her father was probably at a meeting at a hospital or at a convention. Or just too busy at the clinic to even notice her arrival. Well till 7 o'clock when they all ate dinner together. She turned the door handle and walked in kicking off her military knee high boots and set them off in a corner where they wouldn't easily be seen.

She smiled as she shouted into the empty house, "IM HOME!"She heard the pounding of footsteps come from the direction of the clinic. Her father, in his usual florescent shirt and black pants with bright white medical coat ran into the entrance of the house, "SAKURA MY BELOVED DAUGHTER!" He leaped extending his foot in mid-air as he aimed for her face. She sighed and dropped the remaining bags and successfully punched her father square in the stomach causing him to double over in pain giving her an opening to knee him in the face sending him flying back only to hit the wall and slide down to the floor.

"PAPA!" she shouted in horror as she made her way towards him. Maybe she'd gone a bit too far but all thoughts slipped her mind as her dad towered over her in triumph.

"I'm fine my wonderful daughter! I see your strength has grown and your technique is more refined! Wait till mummppph mhhh mph!" his voice became muffled as he picked up her bags and carried them to her room. She held her head with a sigh escaping her lips as she followed him up the stairs taking her forgotten backpack along with her, she waltzed down the hall, peeking into the bathroom, her father's room, the tiny memorial room and finally she glanced at her younger twin sisters room noticing the complete difference in their tastes, half the room was plastered in girly posters while the other half was plastered with soccer and martial arts posters. She noticed a few weird rabbit posters thrown in between, she shrugged it off. And trotted to her room she smiled when she entered her room while her dad quickly made her bed while she got to work setting up her nightstand and putting away her clothes. Once she was done she went to dig through her backpack and pulled out a few plastic bags. Her father looked at her, "what are those sweetie?" he asked as her only response was a smile back and a box being shoved in front of his face.

"I got a little something for everyone, I'm planning on leaving them on their beds. I'm sure Yuzu will like the stuffed toys I got her, " she pulled out stuffed bear, rabbit and fox, " Karin will love the signed soccer ball I got her and the official soccer jersey." she held a ball signed by David Beckham in on hand and a soccer jersey she then proceeded to take out another box, " I got strawberry-nii this." her father looked at it and smiled.

" He'll love that." he said patting her on the head, "maybe your arrival will bring joy back to this house, oh and I'll go with you to enroll in the high school tomorrow."  
Sakura nodded and proceeded to quickly place the box on her strawberry-nii's bed before she rushed off to place the other gifts on Yuzu and Karin's bed. She nodded sagely in satisfaction before waltzing back into her room where she found her father sitting on her bed staring at the tiny box she'd handed him. She leaned against the door way and looked at her watch it was already 2:56. Soon she'd go out to shop for dinner, she felt like making her mother's favorite curry. She knew exactly how to make it. She glanced at her father again, " you can open it you know." he nodded in reply and let his fingers wander off to the lid of the tiny box and slowly slid it off only to have tears well up in his eyes and a shaking hand reached out for the puka shell necklace and held it gently. If he looked closely he could see little engravings on each little shell, the names of his children and their birthdays with time of birth included. It was weird having two sets of twins. He hugged her and held her there for a few minutes," thank you" he said as he immediately threw the box away and put it on. She giggled and stood up finally putting the last of her clothes away and taking off her fanny pack she threw it onto her bed, told her father to go back to the clinic telling him they'd talk over dinner, grabbed a towel and a new set of clothes before she went into the shower.

She walked out refreshed and regenerated; she waltzed down the stairs with a mint green V-neck shirt, plain black hoodie with loose dark blue jeans. She grabbed a comfy pair of sandals and raced down to the grocery store.

* * *

She looked at her watch as she walked back to the house, "4:30" she muttered. A block away from her house she sped up, if she wanted the curry done by 7 she'd need to start now.

She dropped a chunk of chocolate into the mix, it was 5:55 and no one was home yet, and hell the curry wasn't even ready yet. She let the chocolate simmer and mix itself as she wondered, ' who's been cooking since I left?' she giggled, 'not strawberry-nii, he doesn't know how to boil water, not Karin she wouldn't be caught dead in a kitchen and her father was too busy.' she lightly tapped her open palm with her fist and decided, " Yuzu" she said aloud before grabbing a wooden spoon to stir the large pot. She let it simmer some more so she could start on the rice. What's curry without rice? She hooked up the rice cooker and let it do its job.

The first to come in was Yuzu with Karin close behind. She stayed quiet listening to their conversation as they made their way towards the kitchen to do their usual act of watch and cook. Yuzu blindly walked into the kitchen, glancing back at Karin who still hadn't noticed the petite pinkette wearing a white as snow apron.

"but you were amazi- mphmph" Yuzu stopped when her face pressed against soft round mounds.

Um... Yuzu-chan." she poked her head. The girl stood there in shock, backed away a few inches and smiled brightly, "SAKU-NEE!" She shouted as the girl hugged her tightly.

"Oii, Yuzu let her go I wanna hug her too." Karin bluntly said as Yuzu loosened her grip and stepped away reluctantly. After their hellos were done Yuzu tried to stick round in the kitchen but was kicked out by the pinkette. Her bright green eyes speaking in promise, "Yuzu-chan go" she said.

"b-but are you sure you don't need any help?"

Sakura let her wooden spoon go and placed her hands on her hips, " Yuzu need I remind you who cooked for this family until 3yrs ago?" Yuzu paled, when her sister put her hands on her hips and wagged a finger in your face it was like you were put to shame. She whispered, "y-you did."

The teen smiled and pointed at the stairs, "now go get ready for dinner its 10 till 7." Yuzu nodded and headed towards the stairs taking Karin along with her. She sighed as she began fixing the table and glanced at the clock, when the clock hit 7. Yuzu, Karin and her father, were sitting at the table ready for dinner. Sakura sat next to the empty seat and sighed. A few minutes later the door opened and a shout of " I'm home!" filled the suddenly quiet house. Her father rushed to the door. Shouts could be heard, "DINNER IS AT 7 OBEY THE RULES OF THE HOUSE"

Karin sighed as she ate a spoonful of curry her eyes widening in glee. Yuzu sweat dropped at the display going on at the door.

" AND TO THINK YOUR TIRED AND WORN OUT SISTER MADE DINNER YOU COULD AT LEAST COME HOME ON TIME!"

" let him, means more rice and curry for me." sighed Karin bluntly and Sakura flicked her hand with her spoon and glared at her Karin only stared back at her food and grumbled. Sakura slid out of her chair without making a sound and quietly made her way to the kitchen then towards the door. Where her brother was pinning her father onto the floor.

" I was only a few minutes late old man!" The deep voice shouted

"I REPEAT DINNER IS AT 7!"The deeper voice responded. Sakura walked up into view and stared at her orange haired counterpart, "strawberry-nii." she said with a serious face. The strawberry boy looked at her in surprise and shock. He immediately let go of their father and stood up, "cherry-chan..." he whispered," you're home!" she smiled and nodded," yea, and I'm staying too."

" no more student exchange programs?"

" nope! Learned all the martial arts I could and some new languages might I add." she said with pride. Unlike her counterpart she continued in martial arts. He smiled at her and said, "welcome home."

" tha-"

"saku-nee, ichi-nii. There's one on your left." they turned their heads and faced a creepy business man of a ghost, "Go away!" they shouted in unison.  
The ghost floated away and out of sight. Sakura clutched something behind her back, "strawberry-nii..."

"yea cherry-chan?" he said as he glared at the door, mentally daring the ghost to come back. She raised the object over her head and began beating him in the head, "DINNER IS AT 7 RESPECT THE RULES OF THE HOUSE!"

Karin could be heard chuckling at her older brothers shouts of help, "should we stop them?"

" nah..." she said, " saku-nee is too busy to notice I'm having seconds." right then as if on beat fist came down on her head giving her a noogie. She winced in pain and the hand came off her head. Yuzu nodded at Sakura's act and looked back at her brother and father. Both were bruised and beaten, " why are you hurt too tou-chan?" she innocently asked as Sakura walked into the kitchen dropped the pan in the sink and walked out quickly answering her question, "he tried getting in a fight with strawberry-nii again..."  
Karin nodded as she gave herself a third helping of rice and curry, " KARIN!" a wooden spoon hit her hand.

" OUCH THE HECK SAKU-NEE!"

" WAIT TILL EVERYONE HAS EATEN TO HAVE MORE!"

'Oh it's good to be home' Sakura thought as she sat down and tried to ignore the multitude of ghosts floating around the table. Her father and Yuzu couldn't see ghosts like her, her counterpart and Karin. She sighed and took a spoon full of curry. 'I have a feeling something is going to happen soon.' she thought.

* * *

KUROSAKI, SAKURA

Age/ 15  
Grade/10  
Hair color/pink  
Eye color/green  
Occupation/ high school student  
Special ability/ ability to see ghosts


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: _I apologize for the bad spacing and slightly bad grammar. You see it was rushed in the sense that I typed it up on my phone and posted it from there. I will come back and make corrections in the future when I find the time. for now... just enjoy :)_**

**_re: a/n: i have edited and revised this chapter, i decided i will post monthly and that if ya'll want you can personally email me and give me your opinions on how i should take this fic. i would love to get to know my readers on a personal level if possible so you can message me on here, or add my email:_**

**_Kitsunebaka17 _**

**_(i also have a tumblr and a google+ if anyone is interested)_**

**ベリーと死神の2**

* * *

**Of Berries and Shinigami 2**

* * *

Sakura woke up and sat on the bed noticing Ichigo hugging the strawberry plushie she had gotten him. She stood up and changed into her new school uniform that her father had gotten last night from one of Ichigo's friends who was about her size. She slid over to their shared desk and packed up her school bag before turning to her twin with her phone. She'd recorded a very useful alarm once before she'd left for 3 years and was planning on using it as a wakeup call. She used it on herself before so she knew it was effective.

"GOOD MORNING ICHIGO!" she looked at her phone, she hadn't even pressed play yet. Her eyes widened as soon as she realized, and ran over to her side of the room to get away from the chaos. Her goat-faced father flew in through the window just as Ichigo scrambled out of bed and managed to get his upper body out before their dad jumped on the bed and kicked Ichigo in the face.

"WHAT KINDA WAKE UP CALL IS THAT!?" he shouted as sakura walked over and helped him up.

"The kind of wakeup call you should be used to by now." she muttered. He grunted in response only to receive a punch in the shoulder. He winced, she smiled innocently. She dragged their father down the stairs to begin making breakfast before the girls got up. "Oh well", she sighed as she saw yuzu in the kitchen hovering over the stove as if she were doing ten million things. She sweat dropped as she reached the table and reluctantly sat down where Yuzu saw her and shouted, "AH SAKU- NEE! I-Im sorry Im just so used to cooking now ..." she trailed off and watched sakura shrug as she drank a cup of coffee.

" it's alright lil' Yuzu is just growin' up!" she smiled, " keep this up and you might make a great wife someday." she raised her finger to her chin and tapped it in thought, " I think you're old enough to learn moms recipes"

Her eyes widened, "r-really?" she stuttered in excitement. Sakura nodded as Ichigo bounded down the stairs and took sakura's toast and promptly took a bite out of it. He looked at the TV ignoring sakura's whines. She soon shrugged it off once she saw the time. "PAPA!" she shouted as she ran to the door slipped her shoes on and ran outside only to find her father already in the car waiting for her. She got in and watched as Ichigo stepped out the door and leisurely walked towards school.

* * *

Sakura sat in the office with a bored look on her face, she just wanted to get to her newly assigned classes and bother Ichigo. Her father walked away from the receptionist and smiled as he handed her schedule and slip of paper with her locker and a change of shoes. She looked at them for a second before remembering, ' ah that's how the schools here are. 'She told herself as she waved goodbye to her dad and headed off towards the lockers. She quickly made her way to classroom 1B which was to be her homeroom. She lightly knocked on the door and waited for it to slide open. Her newly appointed homeroom teacher opened the door, she smiled and handed the teacher the paper and watched her nod as she led her in. Sakura gazed upon the 25 or so students in the classroom and repeated her usual mini-speech of introduction that she recited the 6 times she went to a new school during the exchange program, though when she spotted a familiar orange head and thought she might change her introduction after all.

She bowed and stared straight on at the class, "My name is Kurosaki Sakura my birthday is July 15 and I am 15 years old. I spent 3 years studying abroad through an exchange program as a way to gain access to different martial arts. I've lived in Brazil, China, United States Vietnam, Korea, and the Philippines. I speak 7 different languages, and know 5 different types of martial arts. Yes my hair color is naturally pink; my likes are soccer, baseball, basketball, and foxes as well as mythology. My dislikes are those who don't follow the rules and disrespect others. And I'm Ichigo's twin sister." she smiled and gave a little wave, "any questions?

Someone raised their hand; she nodded at them to precede, "what martial arts do you know?"

"Karate, judo, jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, and kendo …Oh and Brazilian jiu-jitsu" she counted each one on her hands.

Another hand shot up, "what are your favorite mythological creatures?"

Sakura tapped her chin then gleefully replied, "well my favorite overall is the kitsune, kyuubi kitsune to be exact and the other is a smiling Ichigo." she teased making Ichigo scowl deeper. She watched his hand go up so she answered one more question, "my favorite food is anything sweet" she finally chose Ichigo, "did you happen to bring my lunch with you? I think you put both in your bag." she nodded with and stopped with the questions, "sakura please sit next to your brother by the window." she walked over and sat next to him.

* * *

Cupping her chin she began dozing off, it was math -the class before lunch- and sighed, having been to 6 different schools in 6 different countries it all came easily to her. She had begun to finally doze off when Ichigo began tapping her shoulder trying to wake her up. Nada. He gave up when he saw the teacher aiming at her head with the white chalk. She flicked it and Ichigo habitually flinched at the memory of a truly angered sakura... It was nothing like her reprimanding lectures, her wagging fingers or her deadly frying pan attacks of doom. The piece of chalk hit her in the forehead. Her eyes fluttered open as the chalk fell onto her barren desk and broke in half. She looked over at Ichigo with a confused look, he let out a sigh of relief on the account that she didn't freak out. He pointed up at the front of the room and saw the expectant teacher tapping a problem on the black board. She sighed and stood up, and took the chalk from the teacher. She looked over at the problem and wrote down the steps and answer before walking back to her desk. The teachers' eyes grew wide at the answer; she literally solved the problem by glancing at it.

"...it...-it's correct!" he gasped in surprise. Just then the bell rang ending class and signifying the start if their 2 hour lunch break. She stood up before rummaging through her bag and pulled out 2 big bento boxes she smiled at him and he responded.

"Let's eat here." he said.

She pouted, " come on its been 3 years sutoroberi-nii-i!" she whined. Ichigo whipped his head so fast it gave it could have possibly given the surrounding people whiplash.

"We agreed to never call each other by our nicknames in public!" he hissed. She smiled.

"fine, dâu- nii!" she whined.

"no other languages either sakura!"

"Ichigo, come on you two can have lunch with us on the roof." she looked behind Ichigo to see a gaudy goofy looking brown haired boy.

"and you are?" she asked handing Ichigo his lunch and began filing out of the room as she followed Ichigo towards the roof.

"I'm keigo. One of Ichigo's friends. Though we met this year."

" oh how'd you meet?!" she asked trying to make conversation.

"Oh at the beginning of the year. Of course you know 'bout his reputation.'" she shook her head and Ichigo glared at keigo but he kept talking anyways. "He's known as a punk, we met because he jumped out a closed window with chad and beat up some gangsters." Sakura's eye twitched at the news, the thought of her brother being considered a punk due to his natural yet unnatural hair color was uncalled for…then again; her brother was ruthlessly beating people up. She turned towards him and he blanched.

"Thanks a lot keigo!" he shouted as he ran through the door leading to the roof and shut it behind him making sure to lock it from his side. He ran towards chad who was sitting with Orihime and Tatsuki, "HELP!" he whispered hiding behind chad and pointing at the shaking and rattling door. Tatsuki, Orihime and chad stared intently at the door wondering what beast stood behind it and wondered why it made Ichigo, the one who beats up gangsters, so scared. The door ripped open and its hinges became unusable. There stood and angry girl of about 4'8" stature, standard school uniform, white thigh length socks, with pink hair and green eyes, behind her stood a shocked keigo.

"I-CHI-GO!" she shouted as she ran towards him at full speed. He jumped away from chad hoping to get away from her in time so he wouldn't get caught up in the beating. He ran towards the fence hoping to get back through the door to a safe place where he knew she wouldn't destroy. 'The nurses office sounds safe' he thought as he dodged a kick. He tucked and rolled, quickly stood up and mentally shouted inn his head from joy of almost reaching the door.

Well he ALMOST made it.

Right as he was about half a foot away from the door sakura managed to launch herself and kick him in the face with both feet planted firmly. He fell backwards and before he could even get up she flipped him on his stomach and pulled his legs back. "what kind of reputation have you been building for yourself HUH?" all you could hear were Ichigo's cries of help and pain as sakura continued talking to herself, "IM GONE 3 YEARS AND THIS SHIT HAPPENS?"

Tatsuki, Orihime, chad and a cowering keigo watched in awe as the watched the strawberry get beat up... by his short, delicate looking, younger twin sister. Ichigo shouted strained I'm sorrys. Chad glanced over at Tatsuki, "should we help him?"

"should we?" she questioned, she just didn't wanna get caught in the beating. "Wait where'd she get that frying pan fr- ooooouch," she winced at the sound of the pan hitting his head. Finally satisfied sakura got off his back and let him get up. Wincing in pain every timed he took a step. She sat down with a thump next to Tatsuki and her expression changed to one who just got justice to one of a reminiscing teenage girl.

" TATSUKI-CHAN!" she smiled.

"it's been a long time sakura!" she hugged the pinkette.

"I know! Oh and I noticed Ichigo doesn't practice karate anymore..." she pouted.

"Yea he stopped around the time you left; he finally beat me and stopped." sakura pouted. And turned to Ichigo.

" no wonder dad beats you up; you're out of practice... I should train you."

Ichigo chocked on an egg roll. He knew what kind of training she put herself through. Everyone laughed at his expense. Orihime turned towards her and smiled, "Orihime inoue, Im Ichigo and tatsuki's friend. Nice to meet you!" Sakura set her bento box aside and took her hand, "the names sakura but you can call me cherry, sakura-chan or sakuranbo!"

" ah then cherry-san it is then!"

She looked back a Tatsuki, " we should spar sometime I wanna see how good you got." Tatsuki sweat dropped after seeing the display the twins just did she wanted no part in sparring with the petite pink devil , "h-how 'bout sometime other time?" sakura nodded as she finished her lunch.

* * *

She was walking home alone because Ichigo got stuck with cleanup duty. She looked at the time on her phone and sighed; 5:00 she saw the little light on her phone blink telling her she had a new message.

"Saku-nee could you pick up some rice, rice wine, tea and wood polisher? And anything else you think we might need to make hamburgers." She stopped her walking and responded, "sure I'll get them, tell me what we have so I can buy them." She waited for yuzu's reply when she got a text from Ichigo, ' hey Im on my way home where are you now?' She sighed, ' near the park on the hill, if you're gonna walk home with me hurry up yuzu wants me to buy some stuff.' She leaned against a wall and waited for him, ' ok I'm on my way I took the bike this morning.'

She shut her phone and looked up to see a girl in a black kimono standing on a pole. "HEY!" she called out, "HEY! Get down from there you're gonna get hurt!" the girl didn't look and simply jumped off getting lost between the twilight and roofs.

"Sakura? What are you looking at?" she looked over her shoulder then looked back at the pole, shook her head and went to sit on the back of the bike, " it's nothing..." she said and pointed at the road, " let's go to the market." she looked off over the roofs and watched the twilight merge into darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I know it's been a damn good time since I've updated but since the new Bleach manga has come out I've been trying to wrap my head around it and decided to tweak the story so it sort of goes along with it. but anyways i'll be putting all of my (free) attention into ****Of Berries and Shinigami**** and my other fic, **** Draco Interficientis Cronicis.  
****so anyways from now on i'll be posting a chapter once a week hopefully! **

**now let me leave you alone so you can read to your hearts content! **

**ベリーと死神の****3**

**Of Berries and Shinigami 3**

* * *

Sakura sat infront of her mother's picture memorial. Her arm -gently holding a tiny cross- carelessly thrown over her raised leg. It felt like one of those nights where she reminisced about the past and brought herself down by thinking she couldn't protect any one. The only people currently in the house were the 2 pairs of twins, goat face was out at a meeting a town over and wouldn't be arriving till the next day. She flicked the lighter in her free hand on and off making sure not to catch anything on fire. She wore her favorite pair of red baggy cargo shorts with a black tank top. Looking at the picture she sighed and gave a small smile, the smile on her mother's face made her smile but only momentarily it always gave her a moment of peace.

She sighed as she lit the incense and bowed 2 times before speaking what she had always felt, "if i hadn't run off... You would have still been alive..." she stood up and looked at the picture one last time before she walked out of the small room. Looking at her watch she saw it was already 10:45. She heard another voice coming from their room and the crash of a table hitting a wall, ' must be talking on the phone with the speaker on' she thought as she wandered off downstairs.

"Yuzu! Karin!" she called out from the foot of the stairs, "time for bed!" No answer, she grumbled something about kids needing their sleep. She stopped in the middle if the living room when she felt a strange pressure on her back and chest followed by a loud roar.  
"YUZU, KARIN!" she shouted just as a hand crashed through the wall. Without hesitation she threw herself infront of yuzu, letting herself get grabbed instead. As she was lifted she heard shouts' coming from yuzu, as Karin was jammed underneath the beasts' free hand.

"ICHI- NII!" yuzu shouted as she was knocked over. Sakura's arms were caught in the monsters grip, she couldn't do anything. She felt helpless and let her body go limp as the beasts grip on her became stronger. Right then before she closed her eyes and let herself pity overcome, Ichigo ran out with a woman in black in tow.

She regained a minimal amount of strength and managed to wriggle her arms free only to bite the creatures' hand, nearly dropping her. The pinkette fell to the ground with a stumble but ran towards Ichigo in a hurry. His eyes grew wide as she ran towards him, masked monster close behind her, "delicious reiatsu..." it hissed and opened its wide mouth just as sakura reached Ichigo and tightly gripped his shirt, " help Ichigo! For the love of god help!" she freely let the tears streak down her face. She suddenly felt something warm splatter on her back and there stood the woman in black her shoulder being bitten by the beast, her katana in the creatures' mouth; slicing it open and taking out one of its multiple teeth. Looking at the woman defending them from the monsters maw she realized what her back was soaked and covered in from head to toe-blood… she was covered in blood. Her eyes grew wide and she began to shake uncontrollably.

The woman in black stumbled backwards and slid down a nearby telephone pole. Ichigo- now hugging an uncontrollable shaking Sakura- followed, "are you ok?"

The girl nodded, " yes but i can't continue, the wound is too harsh."  
By then Sakura had her harshly gripped by the shoulders, "what are you doing! You have to protect them you're the only one who can do it!"

The raven haired girl smiled weakly, " you want to protect them right?"

Sakura and Ichigo nodded. "then take my sword and stab it in your chest, i can transfer my powers over to you."

"You sure it'll work?" Ichigo's hesitant voice asked.

"i haven't done it before, but it should work..." she managed to say once sakura paused in her shaking. A small cough left her lips as she looked at the strawberry.

"You can give us…powers?" sakura asked, her eyes widening in hope, only to be crushed by Ichigo.

"No Sakura, just me. We don't know if it'll work or not." Ichigo grabbed her gently by the arm and helped her stand up to lean against the pole beside the woman in black. Ichigo couldn't help but look at his sisters face, the Cherry's tear stained face seemed mirror his, one of pure hope.

Looking at the blood stained ground she held back her new wave of tears and nodded, Ichigo would save them… right? She looked back up at her brother once she heard the sound of metal momentarily scraping the asphalt ground.

A loud sound, similar to a boom encased the area. Light surrounded them and as soon as it came it disappeared. Sakura immediately looked at Ichigo who was now wearing a black kimono just like the strange woman's with a large sword strapped to his back by a red chain. Letting relief wash over her, she turned to the woman to see if she was alright but she was already up and limping towards her younger twin sisters flashing something in their scared faces. Everything after that point went into a blur, she remembered the raven haired girls once pitch black clothes had turned white, her saying something about Ichigo not being supposed to drain her power dry and Ichigo and her carrying the twins to bed.

* * *

Sakura was woken up, not by her father crashing in and waking them up abruptly, but by the ohs and awes of the rest of their family. She staggered down stairs and stepped through the large hole in the wall and noticed Ichigo staring dumbfounded at their family. She shrugged it off and went back inside to get dressed and grab a slice of toast before running off to school with Ichigo in tow.

The day passed by quickly and they decided to eat lunch together in class to talk about the night before events.

"That girl did something to yuzu and Karin..." she whispered as he nodded.

"Yea i know they both said a truck drove through the wall... "

" b-but what about your new powers?"

"Before the attack the girl and i were talking, apparently she's a shinigami who fights demons called hollows and keep the balance of the world."

Sakura gave an unladylike snort, "that's total b.s., everyone knows shinigami are just myths told to children to scare their pants off.

They continued speak in soft whispers till keigo stormed over, " is it true a truck rammed into your house!?"

Sakura faked a smile, "yup we didn't even wake up, but we found a note left by the driver on top of the rubble."

Ichigo nodded, "were expecting a contractor by the end of the day to quickly fix the wall."  
Keigo nodded sagely then glomped sakura, which by Ichigo's standards was something some one shouldn't do to his sister.

"Is my sakura-chan ok?! You're not hurt are you?"

Sakura's eye twitched and she punched him in the head, "the only hurt one here is you!"

A girlish giggling was heard coming from behind Ichigo, the twins looked at who it was and noticed the raven haired girl from the night before.

" YOU!" they both shouted, pointing accusing fingers at the petite girl standing innocently with her hands clutching her student handbook.

"What you know her?" keigo asked still rubbing his head.

"No, since Im obviously new" the girl quickly responded," oh excuse me, my name is rukia Kuchiki, and I hope we can become great friends." she bowed. Sakura sweat dropped and sat back down hoping she could continue to ask questions later. She ended up followed them everywhere. Finally after school was over with they decided to go to a park near the school to question rukia. Sakura swung herself on the swing while Ichigo leaned against the pole.

"I want to ask you something." the shinigami said.

"What is it?" questioned the pinkette as she swung her legs to and fro.

"Ichigo will have to take care over my duties as shinigami till i regain my powers." she said nodding sagely. Ichigo sighed and quickly rejected while sakura took the clever route.

"If he says yes, what's in it for him?" sakura mentally smirked, 'hook line and sinker, maybe I should become a lawyer…' she inwardly sighed before dismissing the idea, ' never mind i already wanna become a doctor…'

"You get to protect those close to you." she stated simply. Sakura's fist grew tighter at the word protect. She planted her feet in the ground to stop her swinging and looked rukia straight in the eye, "He's in."  
Ichigo mechanically turned his head to face his counterpart, "I am? I never agree-"

A beeping sound startled him, "perfect timing!" said rukia taking out her phone, "there's a few hollows around here"

Sakura stood up while Ichigo pointed at her so called phone, "is that really a phone?"

Rukia began putting a glove with a blue skull on them, "it's a soul pager, or soul phone however you want to call it. It notifies me of powerful reiatsu or hollows i can also contact soul society and it has the normal uses of a normal phone." she bluntly said before lunging towards him face palming them.

Sakura looked down at his limp body as rukia started to grab him and position him under a tree and fixed him so it looked like he was asleep, "Just so they don't think you're dead..." she muttered.

Sakura watched as Ichigo killed the last minor hollow. She turned to see rukia smiling wide with satisfaction, "job well done!"

Ichigo nodded, "about earlier..." Ichigo started," I want to accept…" he glared at sakura, " on my own terms… but only till you get your powers back!" he added

Rukia nodded, "it shouldn't be long, month and a half at the most"

Ichigo nodded before learning how to get back in his body and headed home while Sakura pestered him with questions of ' how does it feel to leave your body' and ' what does a sword in your hand feel like?'

"Why are you following us?" asked an annoyed Ichigo as he nudged sakura warning her of their current follower.

"i just happen to be going home this way too!" huffed rukia as she walked ahead a bit. Sakura quickened her pace and walked beside the raven haired girl, " we can walk you home if you want." she said with a warm smile.

"No thank you but i appreciate your hospitality. Now i best be getting home."

Sakura stood stumped to the ground as the girl rushed off in a hurry till she was a blur, then she was gone. Ichigo walked past her placing a quick hand on her shoulder as he guided her along, "don't worry about it she probably found a place to stay."

"you're right." she nodded," we best be going home." she imitated rukia, then pointed at her watch, "its 5 till 7."

"SON OF A-!" Sakura threw herself onto Ichigo's back and clung to him like a koala as she prepared herself for the long run home.

* * *

Sakura sighed as she stepped out of the bath and put on her red shirt and matching bottoms. "ah refreshing." she whispered as she dried her hair with the small towel on her shoulders.

"oii, strawberry-nii your turn for the bath." she said walking in.

He nodded and began getting up as she sat on her bed continuing the process of drying her hair and soon beginning the process of putting on a facial moisturizer. Just as Ichigo passed the closet, its door opened and out popped a black head. Ichigo screamed in shock while sakura ran over to him and slapped a hand over his mouth. "SHHH!" she hissed, "dad'll come up here if we make a lot of noise!"

He nodded into her hand then stuck his tongue out to make her let go. "that's not gonna work" she muttered as he tried biting her palm. She ignored it and looked at rukia, "what are you doing... In our room...in our closet..."

"IN OUR HOUSE!" shouted Ichigo as he got out of his younger twins grasp.

" Im home" she shrugged," i said i have a place to stay this just happens to be it."

Sakura and Ichigo sweat dropped,." well...we assumed you had an actual home..." he muttered as he pushed rukia back into the closet and walked out with a handful of clothes, " Im taking a bath to get away from all this crap" he muttered.

Sakura waited till he was out of hearing range and slowly slid open the closet door, "Rukia-san, please excuse my brother. He gets like this sometimes it's getting close to a date neither of us can stand..." she flinched and wished she could take back what she wanted, then she realized the truth to her words, 'it's getting closer.' She continued on anyways when she realized rukia didn't know their past, but it got her thinking, how would someone react to learning that two siblings are responsible for their mothers' death? No one would talk or be near them if that got out.

"um, Sakura-chan?" the cherry snapped out of her thoughts and looked back at rukia, "you were saying something about forgiving your idiotic brother."

" ah right!" she said lightly tapping her hand with a fist, " forgive my idiotic brother. We're not used to people living in our closets..."

Rukia giggled then smiled and took sakura's hand," well Im not used to it either, and Im only going to stay for as long as it-" sakura let go of rukia and stepped up to the door waiting for her dad to run in telling them to shut up. She readied her stance just as he burst in, she launched herself up just enough to kick her dad in the face with both feet, sending him out the window.  
" sakuraaaaa" he moaned once he hit the ground. She peered out the window, "DEAL WITH IT OLD MAN! LOOKS LIKE YOUR OUT OF PRACTICE ANYWAYS!" she slammed the window over Ichigo's bed shut in the hopes of her father being smart enough to not crash through the window. She turned back to rukia and smiled," now where were we?"

Rukia waved in dismissal and got out of the closet stretching and setting herself on the floor.  
"Im a tad hungry..." she said shyly. Sakura nodded and headed down stairs quickly making up a snack and headed back upstairs without being seen. She got back just as Ichigo was walking down the hall.

"What are you doing?"

"Snacking..."

"you'll get fat if you keep snacking like that..." he opened the door

"are you calling me...fat?" she snapped he dried his hair and nodded.

" well if you keep eating like that yea." he pointed at the plate piled with 3 boxes of pocky, a bag of grapes, 4 apples, a slice of watermelon, a ham sandwich, 9 bars of chocolate, a tub of ice cream and dinners left overs.

She scoffed, "at least i keep in shape... I can eat whatever the fuck i want." she took the chocolate candy bars and reached into her back pocket and pulled out a juice box.

"here." she said handing the plate to rukia," didn't know what you liked so i got you everything."

"Thanks!" she said shoving the sandwich into her face. Sakura nodded and sat right next to Ichigo on his bed and un-wrapped the candy bars. Ichigo watched, he wanted that candy bar. He loved chocolate and his twin loved it just as much as he. Hell she loved anything sweet, probably the most feminine thing about her besides her care for skin and hair and her figure. She wore mostly baggy jeans and zip up hoodies. The only time she wore dresses was 6 years ago.

He watched her smile in delight as she took another bite of chocolate. He reached over and took a candy bar, she slapped him.  
"But i-"

"no" he reached for it again.

Slap, " no!"

" chocolate!" he whined reaching for it again, slap.

Reach.

Slap.

Reach.

Slap.

Rukia watched in amusement at the action of the fraternal twins before taking one last chomp of her sandwich and moving onto some apples.

* * *

"I want some chocolate damnit!" he shouted in frustration.

"MINE!" She hissed grabbing her candy and ran over to her bed at the end of the room and hid under the covers.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **** i already had this chapter ready i just did some quick editing and made it updating worthy and since theres a possibility that i might not post for a while i decided to leave you with this just in case.**

**ベリーと死神の****4**

**Of Berries and Shinigami 4**

* * *

She was walking side by side with their mother, tall pale blonde and beautiful. Ichigo was opposite of her gleefully jumping up and down explaining to their mother about today's karate lessons and how he couldn't wait to beat Tatsuki in a match. She herself wasn't good at karate but just did it because her brother was. She tugged on her mother's arm and pointed up at the sky telling her that it was getting cloudy.

"The forecast did say it would rain today" she responded with gripping her tiny hand lightly. Her short, pink, chin length bob bouncing with her every step began to get faster.

"Mommy look!" she and her mom looked to the side of the river bank, "she's in trouble!" she, herself shouted.

She pointed an innocent finger at the river bank where said girl was at. Then in her sight she saw her brother running down the hill, with determination to help the girl. She felt the pressure of her mother pushing her back causing her to tumble backwards into the pavement. She heard screams and shouts followed by a screech and a gruesome ripping sound then everything became a blur in her tiny innocent mind. She stood up, calling out to her mom.

" MOM?" she shouted trying to look through the darkness. She began climbing down the side of the river bank looking for any sign of her brother or mom. On her way down she found her mother's cross necklace, gently picking it up with slightly shaking hands she held it up to her chest and continued walking. She stepped into the shallow river, not caring if her karate uniform got muddy. Just as she stepped in the rain began to fall hard. She looked around and finally saw her brothers orange hair flowing loosely in the water. Her heart grew tight as she ran over to the splay of her brothers orange hair. There she saw him surrounded by a pool of blood floating around him staining his karate uniform, their mother lying on top of him in a protective manner as he back bled profusely. Once the image registered she couldn't tell who it was who was bleeding the most. She fell to her knees letting the blood wade over to her, and screamed as tears began streaming down her round rosy cheeks, as her pink hair clung to them. Ichigo's eyes burst open at the sound of his sister's shouts than soon joined her in a heart wrenching, blood curdling wail.

Sakura was woken up by a fierce shake of her shoulder. When her eyes fluttered open she could see a worried Ichigo gripping her shoulders gently, she could feel warm streams gliding down her face with ease. She sat up and did the first thing she could think of, grab her brother's shirt with all her strength and cry into his shoulder. He patted her back, "Shhhhh its ok, you had that dream again didn't you..." she nodded into his now soaked shirt and he kissed the top of her head and let her go for a second. Her eyes were a fierce red, her cheeks pink to their maximum with tears gushing out of her green eyes down to her quivering lips.

He walked over to the door and slightly opened it, " what is it dad."

Their father tried prying open the door, " is she alright?"

"Yes she's fine I'll take care of it i was up anyways."

"It's the dream again wasn't it," He silently nodded in reply, "it's the fifth night in a row." He sighed. Isshin called out into the room, "sweetie I'll be just down the hall if you need me." there was no response but instead the sound of shuffling sheets. Ichigo then proceeded to close the door and walked back to sakura who immediately clung to his shirt when he was close enough.

Once everything seemed quiet rukia gently slid open the closet door, "Is she ok?" no answer, she peeked out to see sakura and Ichigo innocently curled up underneath the covers. She gave a heartfelt lopsided smile and gently stepped out. She tiptoed over to Sakura's bed and pulled the covers over them, "seriously you'll catch a cold this way..." she whispered as she walked back ' maybe I'll get them a gift tomorrow.' she thought as she climbed back into her closet.

Ichigo opened his eyes, "i need more sleep..." he muttered as he looked down looking for sakura. She was gone and was replaced with a pillow. He sighed sitting up just in time to see rukia popping out the window, " oii midget, did you see sakura?"

Rukia looked back, "she left earlier, something about having to do something important."

He sighed as he stood up, "Ok. Get out so i can change." she nodded.

"I can look for her if you want."

He waved dismissively, "its ok go to school and don't worry. I'll find her." she gave a silent nod and jumped out the window. He walked downstairs; yuzu was staring at the dinner table surprised. On it was a full breakfast for the girls, their father and himself.

"I got down here to get breakfast ready and this was already here..." she sat down and picked up her chopsticks. Karin looked at Ichigo who merely grabbed two apples, two juice boxes and a piece of toast which hung out of his mouth. He shrugged his shoulders and walked out the door.

"Wait Ichi-nii! Your lunch!" yuzu shouted from the table.

"I'll get something at school!"

* * *

Sakura sat by the river bank, picking at the grass at her feet, her legs spread across. She had woken up at 2am from the nightmare, and then fell asleep in her brother's protective arms till 5. She felt a slight cold breeze and a weight on her back suddenly appear. A masculine hand held an apple, the other a juice box. A chin was placed firmly at the top of her head, "you've never acted up this much..." he whispered as he plopped himself down next to her.

"We haven't seen each other for the past couple of years… it got worse over time…" They sat in silence for a good half an hour which consisted of sakura taking small bites out of her perfectly round red apple, compared to Ichigo who pretty much took three bites and was done.

"Do you wanna go to school tomorrow?" she whispered. He remembered the date, tomorrow would be the 16th of June.

"no we should go, don't want to miss one more day than we should..." She nodded then stood up, brushing the grass off her skirt and socks. He followed her up the river bank and back onto the road.

"Can we walk slowly?" she asked," i don't want to go to school yet."

* * *

Rukia sat at her desk, it was already lunch time, and still no signs of the berry twins.  
"Ne rukia-chan?" she raised her head and saw the orange haired girl, Orihime looked at her worriedly, "have you seen Ichigo and sakura?"

"The berry twins?" she shook her head, " no i usually meet up with them on the way to school but i haven't seen them."

The girl eagerly nodded, "They sure are late today."

Rukia checked her phone, 12:30. She sighed and looked at the candy shaped pellet and the phone in her hands. They'd better get there soon in case something happened. She looked up at Orihime, during the past week they'd saved Orihime from her brother turned hollow, saved a parakeet boy and sent him to soul society. She was lost in her thoughts not even noticing Tatsuki sit down next to Orihime and speak," they do this every year, even before sakura had left."

This had peaked her interest. They leaned forwards to listen better." I shouldn't tell you, it's really a private family issue..." she cupped her chin," though they are a day early..."

"What's a day early?" they looked back to see Ichigo carrying a plastic bag and sakura eating a large ice cream cone.

"Oh nothing!" chirped Rukia as she stood up and latched onto the twins arms, " let's go to the roof!" she dragged them along making sure to dodge crowds.  
"So why are we up here?" Ichigo asked opening up a melon bread.

"Because since i started staying with you-5days today might i add- you always wake up and seem to always be in a mood." Sakura finished her ice cream and began to lick her fingers, ," so i thought I'd get you a gift to cheer you up."

"What is it?" sakura asked leaning in. Rukia took out the candy just as the red phone in her hand and the one in her pocket rang, "perfect timing." she whispered as she clicked through her phone. Rukia smiled up at Sakura and handed her the red phone before putting on her glove and lunging at Ichigo letting his bodies go limp underneath them. Rukia put his designated candy in their mouths and jumped on Ichigo's back, "let's go!"

"But… what about … his body?" asked sakura confused as she started at the bright crimson phone in her hands.

"He'll be fine; they should work any minute now." Sakura raised an eyebrow but forgot about it as she watched Ichigo jump off the side of the building. Sighing she turned around and crouched down near her twin's body waiting for this 'thing 'to work. Getting bored with the waiting she pulled out her phone, why a phone of all things?

* * *

"Where to now?" asked Ichigo running his blade through the last hollows mask.

"None for now." she said jumping on Ichigo's back once again, " let's go back to school."  
They agreed and headed off towards school, just as they arrived they watched glass shatter as Ichigo's body with sakura clinging onto his back, jumped out the window.

"H-hey!" Ichigo shouted as they chased after them..


	5. Chapter 5

******A/N: sooooooo yea... here ya go! i spent a good time writing this and i hope you like it. **

**ベリーと死神の ****5**

**Of Berries and Shinigami 5**

* * *

Sakura stared at her brother as his eye brow twitched- a clear sign of someone waking up. Pocketing her phone she stood up and stuffed her hands in her skirt pockets. She turned around to face the view, letting the wind blow through her hair as she relaxed and waited for the thing in Ichigo's body to wake up. She waited a good minute or two before she felt a hand on her leg.

"KYA!" she flailed her leg, kicking Ichigo's face on accident.

"YATA! THAT HURT!" he shouted as he rubbed his cheek. Sakura cringed slightly when she noticed the already swelling cheek of his… damn Ichigo was gonna get pissed at her when he got back. She somehow –by some miracle- had managed to get her fake-yet real brother back into the classroom. She tried to lead him to his seat and instruct him to stay quiet till her real brother returned but he was distracted by the first thing he saw… a group of girls sitting in the corner discussing. He waltzed over, Sakura closely behind ready to grab his arm and pull him to his seat beside her to scold him. He leaned down and grabbed some ones chest.

"Hey you come here often?" he asked giving her chest a light squeeze. He was thrown back into a multitude of desks. He quickly stood up and pointed an accusing finger as Sakura latched onto his arm and began to try and pull him back… seriously she didn't need this. If it were seriously up to her she'd leave whatever was in her brother's body so he could get the shit beat out of it, but her brother sort of needed that body, " god-damnit Ichi-nii come on!" she harshly whispered.

"FINE I DIDNT WANT YOUR FLAT ASS CHEST ANYWAYS!" He looked down at the pinkette trying to unsuccessfully drag him away, "I PREFER HER SHES BIGGER THAN YOU!" everyone stayed quiet.

"HOW COULD YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT ABOUT HER ICHIGO? THATS ILLEGAL YOU KNOW!" the purple haired girl shouted back. He stuck his tongue out and looked to her right seeing someone with a big bust and long orange hair, "why can't you be like her!"

Before he knew it a tidal wave of books, desks, and punches were thrown at him, "FOR FUCKS SAKE ICHIGO SHUT UP YOURE MAKING IT WORSE FOR YOURSELF!" shouted Sakura as she dragged him along trying to dodge all the books and looked over at Tatsuki, "I'm so sorry Tatsuki-chan! He hit his head while on the roof; I came here to get our stuff before I took him to the hospit- AHHHHHH!"

Tatsuki stared in shock before coming to her senses and bringing herself to the broken window, "SAKURA!"

She was dragged out a window; clinging onto his front, she began screaming, "WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM!"

The fake-Ichigo was about to respond when someone spoke before him, "Hey!" she watched as he glanced to the side and saw a blur orange running after them. Forcefully pulling herself up to look over his shoulder.

"ICHIGO!" she shouted, hoping that her brother would catch up to them and get her away from the crazed lunatic of a thing controlling her brother's body. The fake Ichigo looked back in the direction where the real Ichigo was following them and noticed he was much closer than before, " Hold on girly, you're in for a rough ride." He changed his direction and dropped down from the roofs and disappeared within some foliage.

"Damn we lost em!" growled Ichigo as he jabbed his zanpakuto into the ground.

"We'll find them, he couldn't have taken her very far." she chimed in," but it will be difficult he is a mod-soul," Muttered Rukia.

"Ehhh?" Ichigo grunted.

"Mod souls are replacement souls with strengths, the one in your body can jump at extreme heights and he's fast."

Ichigo brushed her off, "Either way we have to find him I have a feeling he'll cause havoc." He said just before Rukia's phone began to beep. She took it out and examined it for a few seconds before speaking, "Hollow sighted 20 meters from here to the right."

"That's the city park..." muttered Ichigo and sakura in unison. Rukia nodded, "the hollow is priority now, we'll find the mod soul later… and besides… he's with Sakura once they stop running she'll punch him into oblivion." Ichigo chuckled. They agreed on catching the hollow first and headed towards the park.

* * *

He sat Sakura gently on the ground as he stretched his back, "we should be safe for now." he said as his forced companion stood up. He heard the sound of knuckles cracking before turning around only to be met by the cherry's fist colliding with his face.

"Oh I'm so sorry…" she said in a bored tone, "it was a reflex." She stared at her nails, examining them making sure her green nail polish didn't chip off.

He hissed as he rubbed his nose, "what the fuck was that for?"

She glared at him and turned her head to face away from him, "That was for dragging me and jumping out of a closed window… OFF OF THE SECOND FLOOR!" she raised her arms and flailed them to emphasize her point. The mod soul was about to retaliate and explain why he did so but was stopped by a loud roar coming from his left. Already having been looking at the petite pinkette- who was glaring at him in return they both slowly turned their heads simultaneously only to find a big ugly, drooling masked face of a hollow staring right at them.

"AHHHH!" they screamed in unison as Sakura jumped onto his back and began harshly hitting his back.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?"

"TRYING TO MAKE YOU FUCKING RUN YOU DUMBASS!" she shouted back as she desperately hit him in the back of the head, " NOW MUSH OR I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU DON'T GET US OUT OF HERE I'LL MURDER YOU BEFORE THE HOLLOW DOES!"

* * *

"Why did you get in the way!" Ichigo shouted.

Rukia shrugged than thought about it. Shed jumped in the way of a hungry hollow that was hiding and planning on attacking the strawberry from behind. Long story short she jumped in and kido'd that things ass. "The hell did you think you were doing?!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

Rukia sighed, "doesn't matter Im safe and so are you now let's search for your body." They didn't have to search that long, just as they began walking the mod soul occupying Ichigo's body jumped out of a bush and was headed towards them at full speed, Sakura clinging onto his back telling him to go faster. They stopped just before the mod soul rammed into Ichigo at full speed. Sakura jumped off and stood infront of rukia trying to catch her breath.

"Hollow … from… where… we just …came from," the mod soul said between breaths. Just then a snake like hollow knocked down several trees in its entrance. It sights aimed and locked onto sakura. Noticing this Ichigo charged forwards but he wouldn't make it in time.

Sakura – who had been arguing with the mod soul over why she was out of breath when she of all people shouldn't be since he was the running while all she did was scream her lungs out till they burst- suddenly felt pressure colliding onto her back and crushing her chest. She turned around slowly and immediately was frozen in fear and was stuck to the ground like an imbedded rock. The hollow was literally in her face when her short life flashed before her eyes, and a wave of regret and remorse hit her, her thoughts went wild as she realized that she'd be eaten alive by a beast- and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.

Ichigo was forced to jump back in a dodge sending him a few yards away and was about to bounce back into the fight when he felt his heart get stuck in his throat and his heart beat echoed in his ears at the sight he had just witnessed. Sakura had burst into a blue aura just before she was swallowed whole by the hollow. He helplessly watched as it swallowed- leaving no trace of blood whatsoever.

* * *

Up in the trees a man wearing see through orange sunglasses, a black hoodie with a white shirt underneath it, tan cargo shorts and flip flops smirked as he looked down at the sight, "found you after all this time…"

"Found who?" asked the man hidden within the shadows not too far behind him, out from the corner of his eye the first man watched as the man in the shadows tilted his head to look through the branches. Giving an affirming nod the man sighed, "Talk about being fashionably late."

"Pfft, I'll show you fashionably late." The first man scoffed before lunging out of the trees. The man in the shadows smirked before turning around and lifting up his hand to wave good bye at nothing.

"Ja ne," he said before completely disappearing in the shadows.

* * *

"SAKURA!" he shouted as he rushed forward only to be tackled down by a blur of yellow. He struggled against something holding his arms and legs down. Opening his eyes he was met with clear blue eyes covered by see through orange and a fox like grin.

"Sorry about all of this." The man said, "But this part is crucial."

Ichigo's eyes filled with unseen rage as he snapped and managed to get his arm free just enough to punch the man who tackled him straight in the face, "WHAT PART OF THIS IS CRUCIAL? LETTING MY SISTER DIE AT THE HANDS OF A HOLLOW? YOU SICK FUCK!"

The man rolled off him and stood up carefully holding his cheek, "ouch that totally hurts my ego." He said as he looked at the hollow with analyzing eyes, "but anyways…" Ichigo barely heard him mutter something as his body froze and collapsed onto the floor paralyzing him, "just watch." He said as he lazily pointed in the hollows direction. Ichigo's eyes widened realizing the hollow hadn't even moved an inch since the blue eyed man had tackled him. He immediately tried breaking out his bindings with the intent to killing the hollow and hoping his little sister was still alive somehow. He'd broken out of this damn binding before, he could do it again. Just as he felt the bindings get slightly loose a large blue cross like arrow appeared from the center of the hollow and in the blink of an eye another arrow came out from the center and pierced the hollow in the back of the head and through the mask officially killing it.

The blue eyed man fixed his shades with his middle finger and gave a satisfied look as the hollow fell to pieces and disappeared forever. In the middle- with her arm stretched out holding a clear blue bow-stood Sakura with her hair blowing in her face. Turning her head to face them she smiled shyly before rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment, "um…" she shrugged, "did I mention I was the U.S National archery champion?"

The man walked over to Ichigo and let the bindings go, allowing him to get up and envelop his younger twin sister in a hug whispering, "You're ok… I'm so glad you're ok," over and over again. The bow in her hand disappeared into nothing ness before she hugged him back and told him everything was alright. Once they let each other go, they walked towards a surprised Rukia who had held the mod soul in a choke hold the entire time.

"Oii, rukia-chan!" the 3 turned their heads as the man with blue eyes ran up to them. Now having a better sight of him Ichigo noticed he had spiky blonde hair and whisker like marks on his cheeks.

"Ah, Naruto-sama!" she clapped her hands together and bowed, he sweat dropped.

"N-no need to do that, I told you i don't like it, it makes me feel old." He laughed and stuffed his hands in his pockets, "besides if you call me Naruto-sama than I am obliged to call you Rukia-sama."

She blushed and faced the mod soul struggling in the loop of her arm, "hai ... I suspect you're here for the mod soul."

He scratched the back of his head, "yup the old man was too busy so he asked me to come and terminate the escaped mod soul."

"Terminate?" questioned sakura. Naruto nodded, he suddenly went from goofy and care free to serious, "yes, these two mod souls were part of project spearhead. That project was shut down 50 years ago and there are orders to terminate all mod souls related to that project. These one here somehow escaped and ended up in my father's care and he accidently sold it to Rukia. And my father, who doesn't want to cause any problems with soul society, asked me to exterminate him."

"but it's a soul were talking about here, a soul, they're each their own being." Ichigo said as he pointed at the mod soul.

"Yes, and they each have their own power, this one in particular can run at high speeds and can jumo at extremely high levels."

"But that doesn't mean you have the right to kill them! They're living beings!" shouted sakura, slightly shaking from anger. "Well..." Naruto looked up to the sky, " i can give you another option...keep him under your care..."

"We will!" said sakura happily jumping up and down. She looked up at Ichigo who only face palmed but agreed anyways. Once the man named Naruto had left and Rukia had gone ahead back home, Ichigo looked over at Sakura and sighed.

"You'd make the worst lawyer ever…" Sakura followed right behind him and jumped on his back.

"Mush!" she shouted and hit the top of his head with an open palm.

* * *

The lion nodded, "Let me tell you my story..." he sat down just as Ichigo walked in completely interrupting the stuffed toy's story telling time. On the bed across the room laid down Sakura with her arm raised, staring at the cross necklace wrapped around her wrist. After inspecting it all she could figure out was that it was a normal silver cross, nothing special about it yet this is where that strange blue bow that manifested its own arrows came from. Closing her eyes she felt a cool sensation on her forehead, "Here," Said Ichigo gently as he handed her a cool water bottle and some pain killers- after they'd gotten him she realized she had a deep on her left arm from being dragged out a shattered window- which resulted in her ad having to stitch the wound shut and involved heavy amounts of painkiller to make the searing pain go away.

Quickly sitting up and making sure she didn't move to roughly so that her stitches wouldn't come out she uncapped the water and took the medicine. Looking over at the bored looking stuffed lion she smiled, "By the way, I'm sorry we never asked but do you have a name Mr. mod soul?"

The lion waved his hand, "please, please Mr. Mod soul is my father, call me Zeus." Rukia who was sitting in the closet with the door open and a leg hanging out and swinging while she looked at something on her phone, stopped and looked at the lion, " mod souls don't have parents." She gave a smug smile. "and mod souls don't have names either." rukia chimed in.

"They don't?" asked Ichigo and looked at sakura with a shrug, "what should we name him?" the lion jumped up onto Ichigo's desk and pointed a stuffed paw at Sakura, "I already have a name, its Zeus!" of course he was ignored as Sakura and Ichigo- his new owners- got into a detailed conversation about what to name him, finally after a few minutes and giving out stupid names like "rex" did they stop and look at the stuffed animal with a final decision.

The cherry pointed at the lion, "your name is Kon." The newly named Kon gasped in shock, before quickly recovering and doing the best to form a pout, "but-but i like Zeus…" Ichigo grabbed him off his desk by his head and threw him in a random direction on his bed, "its Kon, live with it."

Sakura who was getting ready to sleep looked over, "be glad we chose Kon, I almost won the argument for naming you Mr. le pompadour poof le poof."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: i already had this chapter written so i though i'd update already. just so you guys know, this is slightly AU in the beginning because i want to get to a certain arc for things to really start and to do that i have to follow cannon as close as possible without messing anything up. and the secret with Sakura, Naruto and the strange man will be revealed much much later. **

**disclaimer: i don't own bleach or Naruto, if i did Naruto would already by Hokage and Ichigo would have already figured out he's part quincy...**

* * *

**ベリーと死神の ****6**

Chapter 6

* * *

Rukia sat in her closet with the window open; she'd woken up to early out of habit but after hearing that today was an important day for the berry twins and not really specifying why, she decided she'd stick with them for the remainder of the day. Lifting her head to look away at her feet she watched as Sakura and Ichigo slowly but surely woke up with each shift of their muscles. Shifting her gaze from the twins she stared out the window above Ichigo's bed, she couldn't shake this feeling in her stomach. She finally sighed and placed her hands together, " today is going to be a sad day…" she whispered to herself.

* * *

Sakura walked beside Ichigo as they made their way up the hill, yuzu and Karin up ahead of them complaining about the hill while their dad insistently and persistently blew on that damn whistle of his. Honestly she was getting slightly irritated by it, but today of all days she shouldn't punish him… she sighed looking up at the sky. A clear cloudless blue sky... and it was unbearably hot for June. She wiped the sweat off her forehead with her wristband.

Her head snapped at the sound of flesh hitting ground, whipping her head – which she swore later on gave her whiplash- she glared at her dad who was now standing on his hands, " Give it your all, Yuzu!" he shouted as he began moving, " Dad's right behind you!"

Sakura stepped back to stand beside Ichigo, who had smartly moved to the side of the road and watched silently as he heard Karin's response of " ignore him yuzu if you respond to people like that, they'll be on your back forever." Beside her she heard Ichigo stifle a chuckle and a, "tell me about it." left his lips. Slapping a hand on her mouth she did the same.

'oh for god's sake…' sakura thought as she caught the glimpse and her goat face of a father's eye before rushing up the hill on his bare hands only for yuzu to barely dodge his slide and for Karin to kick him squarely in the face. Quickly dodging they continued on ignoring him as he rolled down to the end of the street.

They quickly caught up to the younger pair of twins who were staring dumbstruck at the top of the hill. Stupidly waving a beach hat and wearing yuzu's favorite yellow dress was Rukia with a stupid grin on her face. She really was thinking everything was stupid today, she sighed for the nth time that morning… and it wasn't even noon yet.

"I wonder if she's here to visit a grave," Stated yuzu with a raise brow.

"But If she is why is she waving at us?" asked Karin a confused look set on her face. Beside her Ichigo seemed to be freaking out. With a tick mark on her brow sakura elbowed him in the stomach and whispered a threat into his ear, "Say anything and I'll make you into a unicorn." She did it just in time to let Ichigo go from her grip and threat just as yuzu turned around.

"Is she an acquaintance of yours, nee-chan, Nii-san?" Ichigo fought the urge to roughly shake his head and deny any kind of relation to her.

"No we don't know her in the slightest," Chimed in sakura with a side glare aimed at Ichigo. Ichigo gulped and silently he wished she'd actually been eaten by that hollow just a few days ago. And just as if she'd read his mind his face came in contact with a small foot. Ignoring the pain radiating across his face he lifted his hands up on the air and began to make a fool of himself.

"I totally remember now! She's my classmate from junior high!" he began to roughly pat sakura on the back, "that's why Sakura doesn't know her!" He gave a fake sigh of relief and nostalgia, "no way! It's so nostalgic that I just gotta talk to her alone right this minute."

He made his way infront of Yuzu and Karin and idiotically ran in place as he claimed he was going to talk to the girl. Yuzu and Karin looked back at her in question, " AH!" said Sakura in realization, " So that's Ichigo's girlfriend! I'm gonna meet her BEBACKSOON!" she shouted as she ran after her brother.

Karin just stared at the empty spot ahead of them, "what… the … fuck." Yuzu dramatically leaned back and her face had twisted into one of shock.

"Karin, such unkind words," Karin shrugged before slowly walking ahead.

Sakura leaned by a tree, looking up at the leaves silently.

* * *

"Why'd you follow us here?"

Rukia crossed her arms and glared at the twins- mostly it was Ichigo, Sakura just happened to be in her line of sight, "fool. If Im not by your side what will you do when a hollow appears?"

Sakura raised her good arm and pushed off the tree to stand beside the strawberry, "that's why I'm here," she sighed, "and besides couldn't you have followed us in a more secret manner?"

Sakura looked on noticing a faint blush of embarrassment brushing her cheeks pink, "Gomen, I didn't realize…" out of the corner of her eye she saw her older brother look shocked and somehow struck with fear. Maybe it was his experience with girls that made him react like that.

"W-why are you angry?" he asked making sakura mentally groan and face palm, it was shit like this that angered girls in the first place.

"Im not angry," rukia continued to stare at them, "you said…she was killed… your mother." At the last sentence she turned her gaze onto sakura. Her heart began to clench and she swore it was collapsing on itself.

" I didn't say that…" she mumbled under her breath.

" who killed her?" she persistently asked.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed his sister clenching her fists and biting the inside of her cheek, answering for her he said, "Rukia just forget about it."

Right off the bat he realized Rukia wasn't going to give up, "you said you could see ghosts for as long as you could remember, right?" She didn't even give them time to respond, "then tell me… was the one who killed your mother a hollow?"

"There is that possibility." She continued, "If your spirit ability was high enough that you could see spirits for as long as you can remember a hollow that was after you could have killed your mother by mistake."

"I CAN'T TAKE THIS!"

Rukia took a step back in shock. Sakura looked over at Ichigo who was finally emotionally at her level, though she was showing it more than he was, "Give me a break. According to you, every damn thing is the work of Hollows. It's already nothing to joke about, but then you theorize that's the reason… I've never heard more bullshit in my life." He roughly grabbed sakura by the arm and led her as they walked away from the petite shinigami.

" the one who killed our mom…" he stopped just a bit behind her, " …was us." He finally said before continuing down the path in a run, sakura close behind him. Before sakura followed him she looked back and gave a saddened smile towards the shocked Rukia.

"Gomen…" she whispered before turning around and following her counterpart.

* * *

Orihime and Tatsuki sat infront of a table eating chips.

"ne? you wanna know about the berry twins?"

Orihime gave an affirmative nod, " un, about when they were younger." Tatsuki sighed as she laced her hands underneath her chin in thought.

"I met them at the dojo I was going to… there was a girl and boy with unbelievably bright unnatural colored hair, led by a beautiful woman, both holding her hands and smiling unbelievably widely." Tatsuki leaned her back against the wall, "he was so skinny and goofy, she was lanky and shy and both of them looked so weak"

Orihime raised her brow in shock making Tatsuki chuckle, " but Sakura-san is so strong!"

"You say that now but back then I used to beat them in less than ten seconds and they'd always cry. But they'd stop crying as soon as their mom came to pick them up and they'd smile like nothing happened." She smiled, "I used to think people who lost shouldn't end up smiling, both of them clung to their mom like they'd lose her in the blink of an eye."

She raised a hand to cover her eyes, "they used to be so happy… but that all stopped when we all turned nine… their mom… died." She looked down and let a shadow hide her face. She didn't even need to look to see the ginger girls shocked face, she continued anyways.

"Yup, they were only nine. They were still shy, goofy and clingy mama's children. But… she died. The day after they didn't come to school, they didn't even come to the dojo so I went looking for them.' She took a deep breath, "I found them on the riverbank where their mom died, still wearing their backpacks. When they'd get tired they'd sit or squat down but would stand up again a few minutes later. Sometimes they'd wander around the bank as if looking for their mom… it happened day after day, night after night to the point where I simply couldn't stand watching them anymore…"

* * *

Up on a ledge sat rukia as she stared down at the grave yard where the kurosaki family was working on cleaning the tombstone marker that belonged to their mother. Holding a hand up to her mouth she began to regret the words she had said earlier, "you really are a big fool Rukia."

She heard the sound of wooden clogs behind her, slowly turning her head she faced Naruto who was now wearing a simple dark green shirt and matching pants. Rukia would have chuckled if she wasn't in such a mood, "Naruto-sama "she acknowledged, "nice to see that you've taken after your father."

He shrugged, "Tessai didn't have time to get to the laundry so I had to open up an old box of clothes." He laughed, "Who would have thought that after 90 years I'd be wearing this old thing again."

Rukia nodded; "if you don't mind me asking why are you here?" she watched as Naruto crossed his arms across his chest and his gaze became serious and hardened.

"I can here to warn you that there's someone beside me watching." He slightly tilted his head, "I'd be careful if I were you." Before she could even say anything else he was gone.

* * *

Sakura looked at Ichigo as his face contorted and he held back the tears that threatened to come out, unlike her, he only allowed himself to cry once a year. She silently watched as he fell to his knees and began to cry openly, and she let him… because he needed too.

* * *

Silently they made their way over to yuzu and Karin who were already praying at the marker. Yuzu was crouched down crying only to have Karin chide her.

"Really quit crying year after year. We turn eleven this year. That's grown up already." Yuzu tried to form a complete sentence but was stopped as a small hand, a bit bigger than hers, began patting her shoulder.

"it's alright to cry every once in a while, even if it's just once a year." Softly said Sakura as she pulled yuzu to her chest allowing her to cry openly, " ne, yuzu-chan?" ignoring the wet spot forming on her red shirt she felt Yuzu nod slightly. Sakura looked up at Karin who stared at her blankly, "it's alright to cry… everybody does it, even over the tiniest of things."

Immediately they were interrupted by their idiot of a dad, "It's time for the 'oh my gosh! Kurosaki family members-only gravestone domino tournament!' for two hours and thirty minutes we'll de-" Sakura let go of yuzu and bounced forwards and backwards a few times before raising her leg and kicking him in the face.

" How about you go die in a fire!" she shouted, Karin not too far behind her in doing the same, " Or go press the reset button on your life!"

Sakura smiled in approval as she looked back at Ichigo who had been standing silently behind her, he'd been doing that since they left the wooded path.

With a mutter of, " there'll be nipple peeks too…" the goat faced man stood back up and ran towards them at full speed, Sakura being smart enough dodged his attempt to tackle her and he set his sights on Karin. Soon he began to chase her around.

Ignoring them Sakura pulled Ichigo down to talk to their mom and pray. Just as they crouched down a loud, " sakuraaaaa, ichiiiigggggggooooo." Startled them as a yellow stuffed lion landed on Ichigo's head, crying and shaking.

Silently Ichigo stood up, grabbed Kon off of his back, looked back to see If his family was nearby and proceeded to look back at the lion, "You bastard!" Kon could only cry and mutter Ichigo's name in response. Kon watched their faces as he finished telling his story to the twins, and found that they could in fact simultaneously change their facial expressions in unison.

* * *

"Rukia!"

"Nee-san!"

Looking to her right Rukia caught sight of Ichigo, Sakura and Kon running towards her. Dropping her kido she looked at the trio noticing Sakura and Ichigo were slightly out of breath.

"who the hell are you?" gasped Ichigo as he straightened his stance. The shinigami standing just a few feet away from rukia with his zanpakuto drawn merely saluted them in greeting.

"Hey there - spiky boy, pinky. You can see me can't ya?"

Sakura looked down at Kon, "Who the hell is that?" she asked as Kon shrugged his tiny stuffed animal shoulders, "How the hell should I know?" Sakura's only response was to lift him up by the head, "what was that? We came here because you said there was trouble!"

"Yo spiky boy, who are you?" asked the shinigami. Sakura and Rukia's eyes widened.

"No, Ichigo don't!" shouted rukia trying to stop him from saying what he was. But to no avail, Ichigo ended up speaking either way.

"I'm a substitute shinigami."

The shinigami with the straw hat stood there with a shocked dumbfounded look, "shinigami? I-impossible… ridiculous. That's too funny." Tilting his hat over his face he sighed, "Kuchki Rukia, that's a freakin' felony." Sakura's chest tightened at the word 'felony'. Had rukia helped them knowing the consequences? The man continued to talk, " oh well, it wouldn't be any fun fighting a lame faux body opponent anyway." Flipping his hat backwards till it flew off his head he lunged at Ichigo, "let's go spiky boy!"

"Ichigo watch out!" Sakura warned him just in time for Ichigo to jump back a bit. Realizing she still had Kon in her hands she reached down into his stuffed stomach and pulled out the candy, "Ichigo!" she shouted to catch his attention and threw the candy as hard as she could. Watching him jump up in the air and catch the candy with his mouth she summoned the bow into her hand and shot an arrow, giving enough of a distraction for Ichigo to turn into a shinigami.

The Shinigami's eyes widened as he watched Ichigo's body and soul separate and by the blue arrow he had to dodge. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost, but snapped out of it and looked straight on at Ichigo, "you really switched, even though you're just a human. How'd you get that power?" he asked raising his zanpakuto ready to slash at any second.

Ichigo grit his teeth, "as if I'd answer to someone who slashes at me without warning." Rukia not wanting Ichigo to get involved ran infront of him, "Ichigo, back down! This is my-"

Pushing her aside, he roughly held up his zanpakuto, "what can you do unarmed?" as he started running Kon moved out of the way just in time for Ichigo to parry with the other shinigami. Sakura watched in awe as she let the bow go back to wherever it had come from.

She felt something cold pass through her arms and legs, and something breath down her neck followed by the oh so familiar pressure in her chest and back. Her eyes widened as she registered this feeling, "the twins!" was all she mentally shouted as she turned around and ran towards their younger siblings.

* * *

Karin stood up and began to scan around the area, Yuzu had a worried look on her face.

"Where's dad?" she asked holding her arm infront of yuzu.

"He went to talk to the priest."

"What about Saku-nee and Ichi-nii?"

Yuzu shook her head, "they ran off saying they had to do something really quick. Why?" Karin's eyes widened when she saw the blurry figure infront of her, its foot prints leaving marks in the cement. She heard the monster laugh roughly, "you're coming with me for a little bit." and for a second she swore she saw the monster smile.

"Yuzu, run!" she grabbed Yuzu's arm and ran for it.

* * *

Sakura ran as fast as she could, ripping her white skirt at the side for maximum movement and kicking off her wedges so she could run faster. As she ran her phone began to ring loudly, reaching into her skirt pocket she yanked out her phone and quickly flipped it open, the small dot on the screen blinking on and off with a circle around it. 'crap…' she thought as she jumped off the small cliff dropping about five feet before she made it onto the first level of the grave yard before standing back up and running in the direction of the dot.

* * *

Ichigo continued to attack the unknown shinigami with brute force only to be stopped by Rukia's phone ringing. Ichigo and the shinigami stopped and looked over at her, "what is it?" they asked.

"A hollow." Was all she said as he eyes widened at the screen, Ichigo stopped his attack and ran towards the petite black haired girl, "a hollow? Where is it?"

"Nearby." A small gasp escaped her lips, "look at this, this spirit power… it's an extremely large one." Kon and Ichigo moved to stand behind her so they could view the screen at a better angle.

"Hmm, looks like a strong one." Said the shinigami, now in between Ichigo and Kon. Looking over at the source of the voice, he screamed and pointed a finger at the man, "What you wanna fight?"

Rukia turned around, "Ichigo now isn't the time for that. Your family might be in danger again." She began to run in the direction Ichigo originally came from, "let's go!"

"Where's Sakura?"

Rukia looked at her phone noticing a red dot slowly moving closer to the strong hollow, " seems she's already on the move, we better hurry." Ichigo silently nodded as he ran faster. Neither of them acknowledging the shinigami was right behind them.

* * *

Sakura ran down the last flight of stairs, tripping on the last step only in time to watch Karin being crushed by the hollows hand and for yuzu to be lifted up by one of its tendrils. She grit her teeth and bit her lip, ignoring the pain in her already hurt arm and now twisted ankle she stood up and felt the bow materialize in her hand. Shooting an arrow and narrowly missing the tendril that held yuzu up by the neck she managed to catch the hollows attention, "get the fuck away from them!"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The hollow laughed at her failed shot, gritting her teeth she prepared another arrow with the intent of actually hitting this time, but the hollow was moving fast, "one hostage is enough." It said as its tentacle lifted yuzu up even higher and placed her above his mouth. Sakura's eyes widened as Ichigo appeared out of nowhere and sliced off the tentacle and caught yuzu in midair.

"Ichigo, it still has Karin!" she shouted as the arrow finally formed in her bow. She grit her teeth as the hollow spoke again, "very well, I still have a hostage." It lifted a struggling Karin up with its four fingered hand, "I've been waiting for you, shinigami."

Ichigo laid Yuzu by a stone marker and looked over at his sister, " Sakura get yuzu, I'll grab Karin!" all she could do was nod as the bow and arrow dematerialized as she ran and made her way towards Yuzu, gently picking her up and carrying her away from the danger as fast as she could.

When she was back near the steps she turned around and her eyes widened once she saw the same boy from six years ago standing there infront of the hollow, "Ichigo! It's him! The boy from six years ago!"

"Yea I know! The same one from six years ago when I tried to save this kid," his growled, "when I woke up… Sakura was crying and mom…mom was dead." The hollow only laughed as it claimed it had no recollection of anything that happened six years ago. The boy was s

Rukia steeled her gaze on the hollow, "his name is Grand fisher… it hides itself and makes the appendage growing out of its head take human form." There was a pause, "then any human who can see it… in other words, any human with a soul of high spirit density becomes fodder to increase its power."

The Shinigami from earlier stood behind Rukia with hardened look, " that hollow has evaded us shinigami for 50 long years. And its favorite meal is women."

Ichigo's eyes widened, "you mean this thing… killed my mom?" Rukia closed her eyes and silently nodded. The hollow seemed intrigued at the twins' words.

"Ah, I see. You kids are lucky to have survived after seeing me." He continued to speak as his tentacle swung back in forth in an almost hypnotizing way, "at first, I may have been trying to eat you because of your great spirit power. But women just look so tasty."

Still standing near the steps, sakura heard every word the hollow had said along with rukia and the other Shinigami's comments. Gently placing Yuzu behind a marker so she would be safe she turned around and began making her way towards them.

Rukia turned around as she felt a faint familiar reiatsu coming from behind her. There was Sakura, walking towards them, her eyes swimming with emotions. Loss, sadness, fear, rage, but the one that swam with dominance was killing intent. She gulped before turning around to see Ichigo shaking as he held his zanpakuto, same rage and killing intent in his eyes. She watched as he jumped up into the air and swung his blade left and right before finally landing with a large arc of a swing. Rukia began to run trying to predict the hollows next move.

Ichigo jumped back onto the next level only to be grabbed by grand fisher, despite having the life being squeezed out of him by grand fisher's tendril like hair, Ichigo managed to speak, "You're the only one I'll never forgive!"

* * *

Sakura continued to walk slowly towards the fight; faintly she could hear Ichigo shout something at what she assumed was the hollow. She could hear her blood pumping through every single vein in her body, every beat of her heart, and every swish of her eye lashes. She felt light, as if she could fly, jumping up in the air, and landing as if on a solid surface- which she wasn't in the right mind to question at the moment- she continued to do so till she heard a muffled shout of, " Disintegrate, Black Dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself and burn; tear away your own throat! Way of Binding, Number 9, Geki!"

Once the chant had ended she snapped out of whatever trance she had been in. She could hear clearly now, no muffled sounds as if she held a Styrofoam cup to her ear that was pressed against a wall. The rhythmic beats in her ears gone along with the sound of her blood rushing through every single vein. She heard a surprised scream coming from down below, where rukia had been thrown back into one of the various stone markers, blood visibly dripping down her face in a steady stream. Looking back up at grand fisher, she materialized the bow in her hand getting ready to strike at any moment.

"Now then, I'm going to eat this girl." Asked the ugly looking hollow as it lifted Karin close to its mouth, "what are you going to do?"

A strained, "Karin!" came from Ichigo. Sakura lifted her bow, arrow already in place as she pulled the blue string back waiting, just waiting for grand fisher to lift Karin up a little higher into the air.

'just a little bit more…' she thought as she instinctively closed an eye to better her sight.

"Stop!" shouted Ichigo as he began to squirm in the hollows grip. Grand Fisher, with his mouth now open looked down at the strawberry, "so, you'll be good and let me eat you?" it leaned in closer to eat Ichigo, simultaneously causing it to raise Karin a bit higher into the air, just where Sakura needed him to. Watching as the unknown shinigami jumped up in the air, the cherry let go of the arrow letting it sail through the air cleanly cutting the hollows hand off.

She let herself drop down onto the ground and landed just as Karin did. She held her hand up to Karin's neck making sure she was alive. She turned around just as Ichigo shouted her name in warning. She stood up, stretching her arms out in a defensive manner over Karin waiting for the dagger like hair from the hollow to impale her.

A burning feeling covered her arms, legs and shoulders. Opening her eyes she saw a black broad back in front of her, the hair like tendrils sticking out through him and impaling her. Her eyes widened when she saw the blood coming from her and the man who had attempted to protect her- his reason? She didn't know why but the act was appreciated. She heard the slice of a sword being pulled down by gravity. The man infront of her slumped down as he leaned on his sword. Sakura who was being held up by the tendrils staggered back and landed beside an unconscious Karin.

Sakura stared up at the sky and focused her attention on trying to keep her body working.

" Hey, You…" Ichigo started as he glanced back at them, " Why did you do that…"

The heavy breathing coming from the shinigami echoed through the area, "Shinigami keep fighting the hollows, no matter what. Shinigami never forgive hollows. Because of hollows attacking indiscriminately… precious people are lost… and only emptiness is left," he managed to look up at Ichigo before glancing at the bleeding pinkette behind him, " I won't forgive that. Protect them, Spiky boy. Because there won't always be someone there to do it when you can't." He started to slouch again, "you understand, don't you…" he collapsed into a heap as the blood began to pool around him.

Sakura continued to listen in on the conversation, and from what she could tell the shinigami that took the majority of the hit for her didn't die, but instead just fell asleep. Taking a deep breath, Sakura began to sit up, willing herself to stand up. The sound of feet distracted her causing her to look to her left, and there was Kon running up to them. Rukia turned to him, "Kon, take the sisters."

Kon stopped for a second, "Wait the twins and sakura? Or just the twins?" he asked in confusion.

"Just the twins!"

"Wait! No, Kon take Sakura as well." Ichigo said as he lifted his zanpakuto once again. Sakura stood up on shaking legs and whipped her head to face her older counterpart, "like hell I'm leaving you alone." She muttered with a glare. She watched as his hardened gaze softened as he looked at her, battered and injured and bleeding profusely.

"Please… cherry-tan.." he said; "you're too injured to fight…" he softly smiled and mouthed a word, " please." She mentally faltered. Sighing she looked away from him and nodded. She slowly made her way to get on Kon's back but was stopped by a large hand placed gently on her shoulder, looking over her shoulder to see who it was but all she got was a glimpse of green before she blacked out.

* * *

Ichigo stared as the man known as Naruto appeared out of thin air and placed a gentle hand on Sakura's shoulder. Immediately she collapsed and fell into his seemingly buff arms, "I'll take her. She's to injured, I'll take her to the shop." He said. It took Ichigo a minute to figure out that he was talking to Rukia instead of him.

"Oii, Naruto was it?" Ichigo asked, Naruto nodded, "take care of her. If I find out something happened to her hat didn't happen here I'll kill you."

" I wouldn't dare hurt her." he said, his tone serious. Ichigo nodded before facing the hollow once again. With a nod towards Rukia he disappeared once again.

* * *

Ichigo landed with a thud, only to stand back up again to face grand fisher.

"With your abilities, I'm surprised you had the guts to tell me to stay away from your friends. Eh, boy?" he spoke in an almost taunting manner.

The substitute shinigami grit his teeth and growled, "Shut up…," he wiped the blood from his lip, "after mom died, I couldn't imagine how sad yuzu felt… I couldn't imagine how lonely Karin felt… and I couldn't imagine how much pain Sakura had gone through, the pain that led her away from our family for the past three years blaming herself like I have." He tilted his blade, "I decided I would protect them… I'm going to beat this bastard!" he shouted as he swung his sword upwards.


	8. Chapter 8

Hi there,

I am so sorry. I know a lot of readers don't like excuses but sadly here it goes. My laptop with all my chapters for all my fanfics has utterly died and only works for 20 minutes at a time before it overheats and shuts down on itself. So i have slowly started the process of transferring from the hard drive to Google Drive, except the process is really slow so it may take sometime before i will post again. Hopefully i'll get a new laptop in a month or two when i save up enough of my paycheck to get a better working laptop that wont over heat and die on me constantly.

till then, please keep a look out. I may post sporadically if or when i get access to a computer. The only reason i'm posting now is because my mom left her computer on and logged onto her server. Hopefully i'll get another chance soon.

~vertigo-in-reverse


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